Drawings of Jim Dine Author:Judith Brodie, Earl A., III Powell Jim Dine is a consummate draftsman whose images of tools, large-scale nudes, self-portraits, and studies from nature and after antiquity are among the most accomplished and beautiful drawings of our time. This exhibition, the first major survey of Dine's drawings in 15 years, will feature over 100 of the finest examples from the 1970s to the pre... more »sent. During the 1960s, Dine's name was inextricably linked with Pop art. But he made a dramatic shift during the 1970s, devoting himself to drawing from life. Drawings of Jim Dine examines the artist's accomplishment by focusing not only on works on paper but also on drawings in a purer sense: ones that largely incorporate line and rely heavily on materials such as pencil, chalk, and charcoal. Although many examples in the exhibition deviate from this standard, the emphasis is on works that demonstrate the artist's skills as a draftsman and underscore his traditional underpinnings, even as he breaks new ground. Today, drawing remains at the core of Dines range of expression. Through a restricted assortment of obsessive images, which continue to be reinvented in various guises--birds, Pinocchio, and others--Dine presents compelling stand-ins for himself and mysterious metaphors for his art. Since the last major survey of Dines drawings, the medium has served as an indispensable component of his creative endeavor, in many ways representing the essence of his artistic achievement. Jim Dine:Drawing is not an exercise. Exercise is sitting on a stationary bicycle and going nowhere. Drawing is being on a bicycle and taking a journey. I knew drawing was essential to me. It kept alive the need I have for a family. It gave me a line of tradition that led me back to artists I admired, not just Rembrandt and Picasso, Matisse and Degas, but others who are dismissed but who gave their lives to drawing. I am not erasing because I couldnt get the object accurately, but because I am hoping for grace to come to me. I dont think hard work makes a good drawing.... If I erase, its because I didnt get what I wanted the first time, and if I dont get it by the 20th time lets say, and the paper is halfway gone, then I start to patch the paper.... The quest is to keep the thing alivethe drawing and the state of grace. Edited and with an Essay by Judith Brodie. Clothbound, 11.75 x 12.25 in. / 192 pgs / 125 color and 5 b&w.« less